Building a Mancave

[Lambo]

Hi guys, Lambo has returned,I need some help modifing my new proposed man cave, i am rebuilding my life after a divorse, so have not posted for a long time, i still have all my toys, i just have had nowhere to work on them for 3 years.
i have bought an old Quanset barn that i wish it put up at my new farm home, the existing barn is about 8.1 metres wide and after 3 weeks work is now in a hundred pieces.

I want to extend the roof out another 4m wider to make the building about 12m wide, unfortunately i am no structual engineer, so i have come up with a solution that i think would work, can anyone make any suggestions if i am going about this the right way. sorry about the cad but ms paint is all i have.
I have looked at extending the wood for each bay they are currently 2.900 and it is an option, but the cost of all the wood is more than all the steel required to just make a another hoop, and just add 6 more pieces of wood.
I can just fit in another hoop length wise on the land i have, but i really need it to be wider if possiable or with all the toys it's going to be crowded in there lol, the powers that be might get touchy if the mod looks agricultual, thats why i hoped an engineer person might have an idea,the barn did have a mezanine floor that was about 3m deep and ran all the way across ie 8 x 3 but the borer got to it before i did and it was a throw away, but the wooden rails were treated and are ok , the mesazine will probably cost a small fortune to replace, so i figured if i could go wider it would be good.
i found these pics of another barn that was for sale a few weeks ago and it looks like it started life about the same size as mine but it not only was made wider but a lot taller, and i really don't need that much height, unless i was going to build a Saturn five in there, now thats an idea???? the last 4 pictures are the current barn
Any help much appreciated

graeme

 

[cribbj]

Hi Graeme, good to see you back!

Wish I had some constructive advise for your mancave, but I'm not a civil/structural guy.

My gut tells me you might want to drop some columns from those cross bars, in order to keep the structure solid, since you're changing the shape of the curve.

 

[Lambo]

Hi John , yep it's good to be back in the fold, the barn problem is a pain in the butt, as you know i does't matter how big you make the mancave, you will always need it 5 times the size you have, it's looking like i may have to pay a structual engineer to run a few calcs, but i'm not even sure if we have one of those in the small town i'm now in.
We do get quite high winds were i am, but no snow, but i really don't want to wake up one morning and find the barn in the neighbors paddock, the original foundations were concrete, and each leg had a blob of solid concrete the size of a 44gallon drum, so we lifted them outta the ground with a hiabe and then cut the steel off at ground level, so i need to replace the 600mm we cut off thats not a major,just wish i was a structual engineer type person, because if i modify the barn the local council will want to see the calcs to issue a permit .

regards
Graeme

 

[Lextreme II]

That thing is HUGE... Must have a large 1080p projector with lots of beers....

 

[Lambo]

Hi David, Long time no talk, hope all is well, i think the larger barn was used to build a boat or maybe even a super yacht, i still reckon i could fill it.
It took 2 x 40 ft trucks crammed full to move my junk and another 10 trailer loads plus 5 cars , i think i need to throw some stuff out lol. Its not till you have to move that you find out what 30 years of hoarding adds up to, and i had to more it all twice what a misson, but now is a good time to sort out the junk because if it goes in the barn it will never come out again.

Best regards
Graeme

 

[XR8tt]

They use those sheds as hay barns over there...
If you keep the same radius it should be fine..
I would add some tension bars just under radius...
To prevent spreading...
We used Piako Machinery to build ours...
Down Waikato, Morrinsville way...
Graeme

 

[Lambo]

hi Xr8tt, the plan i had was to extend the sides out by 4m with a new flat section on top, the radius or shape of the curves is not changeable, i figured if i put a bar across from the curved section from one side to the other at about 4 feet down from the top that should stop it spreading.Thanks for the lead on Piako, i knew someone in Morrinsville made them i found a company called O'neil Engineering in Morrinsville that still make them for 20k + but that is out of my reach so i bought this one for 5k it needs some of the flat iron replaced but thats not a big problem, i just need it BIGGER LOL, have spent days seaching for some sort of structual info ie loadings etc but nothing out there.
Graeme

 

[Cobber]

The difference between men and boy's is the the number of toys and the size of his man cave..........

I would make some triangulated A frame roof trusses instead of the flat roof idea, this will spread the wall load much better in to multiple points of the roof instead of the single point in the middle of your flat roof. This would also make it a lot easier to sheet up and also look pretty cool too. It even looks like a breast when viewed from the side, a true man cave..

Good luck getting a structural engineer to sign off on these types of mods, they will want you to build a whole new shed frame out of 1" steel plate to cover their butts.

 

[XR8tt]

Yep or something similar under the main roof to support it from spreading...
The issue with flat section is it looses its rigidity, weight is compressed into ends
of flat section..
The other way is to use poles through the centre.. Which I doubt you'd want to do ???